Added to the National Film Registry in 2002.

Jim Jarmusch’s sensational feature Stranger Than Paradise is a milestone in American independent cinema and beyond its categorical boundary. Perhaps drawing on his background in literature, Jarmusch’s cinematic vision is realized through a rhythm similar to that of literary composition. The groundbreaking series of long takes of each scene resembles a prose-like structure, and the minimal, nuanced character composition is portrayed in a poetic direction. This masterpiece, centering around three young characters on an irresponsible, impulsive road trip to escape the mundane, put Jarmusch on the map as one of the most influential American independent filmmakers and reinvented the cinematic language of cool.